The present application is related to applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 06/326,953 filed Dec. 2, 1981 and 06/329,090 filed Dec. 9, 1981, both of which are also directed to improved tag pin assembly feeders for use in tag attachers.
This invention relates to a tag attacher, and more particularly, to a tag attacher which is capable of driving tag pins one by one accurately irrespective of the inter-pin pitch of a tag pin assembly and in which the pin connecting bar can be easily removed after tag pins are dispensed.
In attaching tags to merchandise or connecting two or more articles together, tag pins have conventionally been used.
The tag pin is formed of plastics and consists of a filament having a head at one end and a crossbar at the other end. A number of tag pins are attached to one connecting bar through connecting necks to form a tag pin assembly. One tag pin assembly has about 20 to 50 individual tag pins with the inter-pin pitch set at about 2 mm.
With a tag pin assembly loaded into a tag attaching apparatus and with a hollow needle at the front end of the tag attacher pierced through a label and an article, the lever (or trigger) of the tag attacher is pulled driving one tag pin through the hollow needle into the label and the article. Then the label and the article are held between the head and crossbar of the tag pin so that the tag pin cannot be pulled off.
This invention relates to a device for dispensing tag pins one at a time. The conventional tag attachers employ a gear as means to feed tag pins to a rear portion of the hollow needle by engaging teeth of the gear between the tag pins and pulling lever to rotate the gear. Therefore, the pitch of the gear teeth is made to match the pitch of tag pins. However, this kind of tag attachers using gear as tag pin feeding means cannot be used with tag pin assemblies having different inter-pin pitches.